This is the link to the book I alluded to above.
A letter I wrote helped a friend with his claim, but it was behavior I experienced, being around him.
As long as convicted felon scumbag ex-CONgresscritter Jesse Jackson (Grifter) Jr. gets $8,000/month in disability (poor guy is bi-polar doncha know) it’s all good.
Okay, wait a minute.
VA healthcare is denied to veterans IF THEY MAKE TOO MUCH MONEY. This is not new. Phrasing it as getting your health benefits back is a stretch.
You made too much money. The income restriction ends if there is even 10% of service connected disability — which you applied for and got approved. It wasn’t some arbitrary refusal of healthcare going on. You made too much money. The tinnitus claim got approved and the income limit on healthcare ended.
Hearing loss as a disability is a high bar to get over. The requirements are laid out. https://www.hillandponton.com/va-hearing-disability-calculator/
An audiologist, preferably a VA audiologist, has to provide a diagnosis derived very specifically from the above Puretone test — or speech recognition stuff. You can ask AIs about this. Much faster look up. “The vast majority of veterans with hearing disability are rated only 10% for hearing loss.” While you are with the audiologist, now that you have healthcare benefits restored, ask him/her if you should have a hearing aid. Free through the VA.
As to PTSD, no, you are not up against 100 shrinks. You have 100 shrinks trying to get you what you claim. Qualify under their specifics and you get rated. If you don’t, then you should be glad you don’t have it.
Oh, and one more thing.
That 10% tinnitus claim is paying for your healthcare right now. Every new claim you make opens an overall review of your situation, in ALL aspects. This is called “poking the bear”.
You have free healthcare for life. And you’re now making a claim for hearing loss that may add (probably) just 10% more -— OR -— it may get your tinnitus claim re-visited. And ended.
You really want to poke the bear? This is a lot of risk for just 10% more reward.
As far as I know, the VA always used the DSM.
Every claim I have filed with them was easy and quickly approved.
Unsolicited advice: If you fill your appeal with vitriol you diminish your chances.
My brother went thru the same thing twenty years ago. A VA appeals court judge ruled in his favor, but the state VA org ignored the ruling. The appeals court never responded to calls requesting enforcement of the decision.
Finally, he got a psychologist AND a U.S. senator on board, and only then did the VA grant him 100% disability. In the meantime, two cousins who were Vietnam veterans committed suicide when they started having flashbacks.
One was even a nurse, but he had been USAF security police, doing patrols outside the perimeter at Cam Ranh Bay. All he ever said, even to his wife, was that yes, he had been involved in close combat.
Right here is where we’re supposed to say that all veterans are saints that would never lie.
I’m a veteran and have seen LOTS of scamming with this stuff.
Hopefully you have a Veterans Service Organization (VSO) helping you. Navigating the VA system by yourself is frustrating and time consuming. A good advocate can get you set up, get your paperwork filed, and have you getting your exams in very short order. There is usually an advocate office co-located or very nearby the VA office.
Basing claims on that “book” of standards has been the case for ages. Maybe not at the VA, but everywhere else in the world. The basis for all mental health claims are changing all the time based on research and treatments.
That said, when I have had friends battling the VA processes they found three paths that helped them: One was the American Legion. They usually have people who can assist with claims and the process—which can be daunting.
The second is their Congressional office. They too have people dedicated to these processes.
Finally, at least in MA, there are state VA related agencies who can help.
I am sorry this is being so tough to settle. My Son in Law has a 10% hearing disability based on his time in an artillery unit. He is also looking at a PTSD claim based on issues from his time in Somlalia. Good luck to you!
Hardly anyone gets anything for hearing loss unless it is documented directly soon after the event which caused it. I also have the 10% for bi-lateral tinnitus and just got my hearing aids last Friday. Total game changers!
Some history. I was a VA psychologist for 22 years, 1974 to 1996. The PTSD diagnosis didn’t exist until 1980, when the existing DSM (DSM II) was revised into DSM III. I worked with countless veterans both in treating PTSD and conducting C&P exams, The exam you go through when applying for disability compensation. When I retired from the VA in 1995 we were up to DSM IV, with DSM V soon to follow. I continued doing both ends of the work in private practice until about 2020.. The diagnosis has changed somewhat throughout these revisions, but the basic criteria have remained.
It is essential to know a few things: First, the VA has always used the existing DSM to make diagnoses; This is not new.
Second, VA psychiatrists and psychologists, among many others, have been involved from the start in defining the criteria for PTSD, and the combat veteran experience has been a part in defining the condition. For the revision of DSM III, the DSM III-R, I was on the PTSD committee myself. The committee was heavy with VA people who had been involved, like me, in treatment of vets for years.
Third, the process of determining VA disability has two basic steps: the diagnosis comes first, by a clinician, who writes up a clinical evaluation; and second the disability determination, by a different person, based on the outcome of the exam. The psychiatrist you see for the exam does not decide on disability.
Disability determination depends on a number of criteria mostly which relate to post-trauma functioning: not only symptoms of post-traumatic anxiety but also problems in various domains of functioning. I don’t have DSM-5-tr but from DSM 5, the key criterion for disability is this: “The disturbance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning,” A statement like this has been included in every rendition of the diagnosis. The only thing new that you may be encountering is the wording in DSM5tr.
To be clear, it may sound cold, but the compensation is for this loss of functioning, ie disability to function, not simply for the pain and suffering that goes with it. Hope this helps.
“for a sixth appt to see an audiologist, which I will absolutely not attend.”
That’s not going to help you at all.
The test orders could be coming from different offices or organizations. All need confirmation or re-confirmation to approve the disability or move your case along. It could also indicate your AD records are lost somewhere or not yet received.
All my stuff occurred LoD. Most of it was entered into my service med. records at the time. Since then they’ve been verified after service and are current to this day (as with you). They only granted many of them on appeal AFTER going thru all the testing.
Then at 1 year my PCP re-tested when I went to 6-month checkup. I am very fortunate to have a great VA doctor and I have definite symptoms.
I have bad balance and trouble and walking. I never get griefed in Disabled parking spaces.
Took 22 years to get fully rated using 1/3 of the injuries....
Are there people that can help you navigate through this?
I got 10% hearing disability easily. Vietnam gunboat service and a few years in a destroyer engine room did the trick. I wouldn’t poke the bear. I already have lifetime free medical and it isn’t worth the risk.
PTSD is a grossly abused excuse. It is real for some. But my Dad suffered from nightmares his entire life - from WW2 and Korea - yet rose to the rank of Colonel and died in Vietnam.
One uncle in the Merchant Marine had 2 ships sunk under him. He was also blown overboard during a torpedo attack and no one can explain how he survived over 24 hours in the North Atlantic on a piece of wood.
He came home, built a life and was a wonderful guy.
PTSD does exist, but it has been abused to create jobs for VA administrators.
Don’t let it bother you too much. When I returned from Vietnam nobody ever heard of PTSD. We survived and just drove on with our life.
Getting anything for hearing loss you have be damn near deaf. 30% deaf in each ear isn’t how it’s measured and there’s tight requirements to get anything.
I’m just shy of 2000 days for a BVA claim on shoulder issues clearly documented in service medical records but have been denied over and over. I have a NEXUS connection via 4 orthopedic surgeons this time but I’m not holding out much hope.
Took 26 years of fighting to get the back issues right. You heard that right but they finally got it right 7 years ago.
I’d like to file for PTSD just because of how F’d up the VA is but I’d be dead by then which is precisely what they hope for.
What criteria did the VA use in the past to establish a diagnosis of PTSD? If it simply relied on the physicians diagnosis remember his diagnosis was likely based on a recognized criteria such as the DSM which has been in existence for a long while.
Most likely probably on the VA website you will find a list of finding necessary to establish the diagnosis. It is possible that you meet the required criteria and to still be turned down. That is why there are lawyers who specialize in taking your case through the process exist. They can also help with the administrative appeal if it comes to that. So see an attorney.
FYI https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/treat/essentials/dsm5_ptsd.asp
The DSM series (5 editions) has been used since at least the 1980s to evaluate Social Security Disability claims.
DSM-1 was published in 1952. Much of the original data came from US Army doctors.
DSM is recognized around the world, and it has been thoroughly integrated into the USA legal system.
Internationally, there are similar publications. Some of those publications challenge and disagree with DSM data.
I see it’s just as much as a pain there as Canada. I’ve had so much fun with those types. Eventually I let a company called veteran farmer help out. They’re good at navigating all the mumbo jumbo etc. I wonder if there’s something similar there?